State of New York Approves Another Pointless Video Game Law

[The 1 2 P]

The state of New York wants to prove to the rest of the world just how dumb they are: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/ne...bill-into-law/ The main two points of this law mandates that all consoles come with parental controls and that all games have ratings prominently displayed on their box/packaging. Hmm.....wasn't this already how the game industry was run since last generation? Thats right New York--you get the reward for "most redundantly retarded" state. My apologizes for those who are really retarded because I know they aren't as stupid as New York politicians

[diskoboy]

Well it's obvious the Governor can't see the ESRB ratings clearly printed on the box. It's not his fault....Maybe we should just stop making art for boxes and just make the ESRB labels the games artwork. And the instruction manuals will be the size of a large coffee table book[/sarcasm]

I think the politicians in New York and the Peoples Republic of California need an enema.


Now - let the blind jokes begin!!

[TonyTheTiger]

I don't really see what's so foolish about this. Just because something is a current standard doesn't mean making it a rule is redundant. I wasn't aware of the law but based on what you're saying it sounds like they thought so highly of the ESRB and the parental controls that they wanted to make sure things stay that way in New York. That's not unusual or necessarily a stupid thing to do.

[Buyatari]

So if Joe sells an Atari 2600 in his store is he breaking the law?

[TonyTheTiger]

Hm...that is a good question. I guess it depends on whether the law is retroactive (which I have a hard time believing it would be).

[Garry Silljo]

If I had unlimited funds, I would buy all 3 major console publishers and make sure all systems had no parental controls and that the games only had ratings on the back and not the front, ..... SCREW YOU NEW YORK!

[Jorpho]

I'm sure this will have just as much of an impact on most of us as the existence of V-Chips in our televisions.

Which is to say, none at all.

[Push Upstairs]

I totally forgot TV's since the mid (?)1990's had V-chips in them.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Wow, great going New York! Must be nice to have your house so completely in order that these issues are what gets attention due to priority. Never mind the redundancy, seriously, if this is what your State legislature is busy doing and you have any worthwhile problems what-so-ever the voters need to issue a recall. Three cheers for legislated morality and "For the children" election year runaround!!!

"My seat is up this year... How do I make it appear to my constituents that I am actually doing something? I GOT IT! Introduce a bill that does something but, in reality does nothing! Genius, I'll have my junior staff draft it up immediately. I have a date with a whore soon and have to meet the XYZ Corp. for my "cut". Better tell Janine to call my wife and tell her I'll be late tonight. Ah fuck it, she'll figure it out."

[SpyHunter]

So if Joe sells an Atari 2600 in his store is he breaking the law?

Probably not, since the DP is in Jersey not New York.

[Cmosfm]

I seriously don't know why they didn't just use the movie ratings systems on games, if parents haven't gotten what T & M are by now, they will never get it, just slap a PG-13 or an R on there and it's immediately recognizable.

[heybtbm]

Well it's obvious the Governor can't see the ESRB ratings clearly printed on the box.

[Garry Silljo]

I seriously don't know why they didn't just use the movie ratings systems on games, if parents haven't gotten what T & M are by now, they will never get it, just slap a PG-13 or an R on there and it's immediately recognizable.

I always say this. Why have two different ratings systems? It's needless confusion. Of course any person of reasonable intelligence can figure it out, but face it, most people are dumb.

[randomuser83]

I always say this. Why have two different ratings systems? It's needless confusion. Of course any person of reasonable intelligence can figure it out, but face it, most people are dumb.

It's not just that they are dumb lol, they are just too lazy to read something they need to actually focus their eyes on to read.

[Rev. Link]

I'm just guessing here, but I bet the MPAA has a copyright or something on their ratings. So the ESRB couldn't use PG, R, etc. for games.

[diskoboy]

At least someone got it...

Over at Joystiq, they're going bananas with the picture of the Governor.

Being blind, I should feel sorry for him. But for some reason, I don't.